Art de Roché and Matt Pyzdrowski have written an in depth article in The Athletic detailing the strengths and weaknesses of Raya. They have concluded that he is not at his best and that essentially the fear of doing something wrong has overriden both him and Rambo.
In conclusion, they write:
“Throughout Raya’s career, this is something he has generally been excellent at — he’s regarded as one of the better goalkeepers in crossing situations in the Premier League despite his smaller frame (6ft/183cm) - but this season he just seems off and to me that largely has to do with his decision-making process, which appears clouded.
Considering the circumstances and everything that’s been happening at Arsenal surrounding the goalkeeper situation, it’s quite possible (and seems to me) that he’s not playing freely and is worried about making mistakes.
Throw in the fact that Ramsdale really didn’t do much wrong to get benched and it adds a bit more pressure for Raya to perform.”
If anything positive comes out of this, in just my own analysis, is that we have a better defense (defence) than Brentford. So he has less to do. Whichever side of the fence you’re on, this is a great article. I know it’s behind a paywall so I excerpted it here.
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I don’t think there is a real skill difference between the two, just that Raya is more assertive at crosses as noted. Reminds me of Lehmann who used to come out for these crosses
He also faces so few shots, and doesn’t really make saves. So he’s mostly having to collect crosses and he isn’t getting them all.
I dunno, man, I think I might be becoming insane, but with Raya I don’t feel as half as nervous as I always did with Ramsdale…